Washington D.C. Approves Marriage Equality in an 11-2 Vote

UPDATE: Marriage equality has passed 11-2. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is expected to quickly sign the bill into law
and it will then go to Congress, where it will be reviewed for 30 days.
Barring opposition, it will become law. In early October, the Washington Postsaid that Congress was unlikely to block the bill.

Earlier...

Chris Geidner (of Law Dork) just tweeted this photo from inside the D.C. Council chamber. Council is set to take the second of two votes shortly on marriage equality in the District. I posted about the rally held last night earlier.

Comments

TIMING UPDATE:
The Committee of the Whole just adjourned at 1:08 EST and the Council will re-convene for the legislative session at 1:25 EST.

The Chairman was requested to move the marriage vote up because a large number of people had been waiting, but I was unclear on how far up he said he could move it. Currently the online agenda places it as the first item on the non-consent agenda, which looks to be approximately halfway down (but that may be misleading because of the different amounts of time bills at different stages of the process consume).

I'm watching the online stream from CA. Perhaps someone on scene will Tweet an update.

Posted by: homogenius | Dec 15, 2009 1:16:57 PM

I'm watching online, too. I'm learning so much about DC issues - the only one I care about right now, though, is marriage!

Congress only will get involved if it costs money or radically goes against something national ... here -- just benign neglect.

And this will raise money for the district -- increased income for marriage licenses and district owned facilities where couples can marry -- win-win.

I am throwing my marriage on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- all men were created equal -- thanks Abe you were the last honest politician

Posted by: David B. 2 | Dec 15, 2009 3:43:25 PM

Here's a video of the roll call for those who want to watch it happen. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9FcYGGOx0

Posted by: Jim in Mn | Dec 15, 2009 3:51:10 PM

Any member of the Senate can bring it up in that chamber.

But I doubt the House will even consider it.

Individual representatives do not have the authority to force a vote on the floor. That's a prerogative that belongs solely to the Speaker. Opponents of this will try to do is embarrass Pelosi sufficiently in the national media. And they hope the pressure will force her to schedule a vote.

But it is still a long shot. Unless there's some sort of massive outcry from across the nation, she'll probably just ignore them.

Posted by: John | Dec 15, 2009 3:56:46 PM

It passed! It passed!
Maggie Gallagher must be rolling in her grave; um, i mean trough.

Posted by: jonny | Dec 15, 2009 5:11:49 PM

There is little immediate threat to the measure becoming law. Both the House and the Senate would have to get involved and Obama would also have to not veto it. The spending bill just enacted doesn't include any restrictions on how the DC government spends it's money -- for the first time in many years (in fact, medical marijuana is expected to become available this year, something the citizens enacted by a wide margin years ago, but Congress blocked). Under the new Democratic government, Congress has lost it's taste for meddling in District affairs.

The biggest worry at the moment is those damn activist judges the Republicans are always complaining about.

Every councilmember spoke on the measure. Some of their comments were quite moving. Counclmember Yvette Alexander, one of the two votes against the measure, was smiling and taking picture of the cheering crowd after the vote. One suspects were here priests not telling her whe would go to hell if she voted for marriage equality, and her constituents not opposed. that the vote would have been even stronger.

I suggest a Spring wedding for everyone. DC is very beautiful in the Spring.

Posted by: Charlie | Dec 15, 2009 5:43:29 PM

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that Wal-Mart, a company which scored only 40 points on the Human Rights Campaign's 2010 Buying for Equality guide, advertises on this website?